British Mail Steamers to South America, 1851-1965

During the nineteenth century the British government and the Admiralty provided large subsidies to commercial companies to run international mail services. Concentrating on the service between Britain and South America, this book explores the economic, maritime and political aspects of the Royal Mail Lines company, which held contracts between 1851 and 1965, and reveals the impacts that a long-distance mail service had upon travel, trade, commerce and the changing patterns of global information exchange.